Physical Therapist Assistant Program
Helping Your Students in the Clinic—Tips for Clinical Instructors
All students will have skills they are working on once they get out of the classroom and into the
clinic.
Below are some suggestions on how to best help your student if they are struggling in a
particular area.
Please also make sure to look on the JCHS website for documents such as a weekly
goal sheet, conference sheets and learning contracts to further help you organize your feedback to
students.
Most importantly, make sure to be giving consistent feedback to your students so areas
that they need to work on can be fixed early. And of course, always feel free to call the ACCE with
any questions or concerns!
Difficulty with Following Clinic Policies

Prior to the start of the clinical rotation or on the first day, make sure to review with your
student the important policies that they will be held responsible for.
name badge, cell phone policy, etc.
This may include dress,
Remind them of these policies as needed if they are not
following them.
o

Make sure to stress cell phone policy and try to model that behavior.
It is okay to send a student home to change or get a badge if they have not followed that
policy.

Stress the importance of following policies in the workplace and that not following policy once
they are employees may have more severe consequences.

Make sure to document as appropriate in CPI and contact the ACCE if this area becomes a
persistent problem.
Difficulty with Communicating with Patients

Encourage communication with various groups as much as possible (patients, families, team
members, other providers…) and step back on your own communication and encourage the
student to take the lead.

Work with the student to develop techniques and strategies for various types of patient
communication styles.
Examples may include the chatty patient or the very quiet patient.
Share with the student ways that you have found to best communicate with that type of
Jordan Tucker, PT, DPT, ACCE  jmtucker1@jchs.edu  540-985-8463 (O)  540-206-9134 (C)  540-985-8021 (F)
patient and then make sure they practice that skill.

Discuss with the student early on if you see difficulties in this area so that they can get as
much time to practice during their time in your clinic.

Make sure to document as appropriate in CPI and contact the ACCE if this area becomes a
persistent problem.
Difficulty with Time Management


Give the student time limits in which to perform parts of the treatment session.
At the start of the day, have them prepare a outline of the day which should include how
much time each task will take.


Suggest they arrive early to look at charts and develop a plan for the day.
Make sure to document as appropriate in CPI and contact the ACCE if this area becomes a
persistent problem.
Difficulty with Coming up with Treatment Plans or Lacking Confidence in their
Treatment Plans

Make sure students can look at the schedule for the next day and have the student come in
with a treatment plan that includes what they will do with the patients as well as rationale
for the chosen treatments.
too easy or too hard.
patient.
Also have them include what they would do if their activities are
They should then review the plan with you prior to seeing the
This will allow them to have some time to think of treatment ideas while they are
still building their “internal treatment library” and also give them the confidence that you as
the CI has approved of their plan.

Provide the student several treatment options that might be a possibility for a patient and
have them choose what they would do as well as provide you with rationale.
You can then
discuss with the student what you might do and your rationale.


Both of these can be great strategies for all of your students!
Make sure to document as appropriate in CPI and contact the ACCE if this area becomes a
persistent problem.
Difficulty Focusing While in the Clinic

First, discuss this with your student, as they might not even be aware they are drifting off
Jordan Tucker, PT, DPT, ACCE  jmtucker1@jchs.edu  540-985-8463 (O)  540-206-9134 (C)  540-985-8021 (F)
or don’t appear to be focused/engaged.

Have the student write notes during the treatment. This can either be when they are
treating to help them stay on track (and should help with documentation at the end of the
day) or even if they are just watching you or another clinician treat.
If the student is not
actively involved in the treatment at the time, you can also ask them ahead of time to come
up with questions to ask you at the end or to give you a summary after the session of what
they saw and learned.
These strategies should help to give the student a goal and hopefully
keep them more focused.

Make sure to document as appropriate in CPI and contact the ACCE if this area becomes a
persistent problem.
Difficulty with Documentation

Content:
o
Have the student write as many notes as possible.
Have them work on notes at night
and bring them into you for review if there is not time to do it in the clinic
(protecting HIPAA of course!).
o
Have them look at your notes and notes of other clinicians so they can start to get a
feel for note content and wording.

Time:
o
Initially cut down on the number of notes they are writing and then build back up as
they speed up.
o
Pick a section of the note for them to work on and focus just on that section initially.
You may want to make this the section that seems to be slowing them down the
most.
o
Encourage note taking during treatment sessions (when appropriate) so they have either
started their note or at least have something they can reference when it comes time
to write the note at the end of the day.
o

Set a time limit for writing notes.
Make sure to document as appropriate in CPI and contact the ACCE if this area becomes a
persistent problem.
Jordan Tucker, PT, DPT, ACCE  jmtucker1@jchs.edu  540-985-8463 (O)  540-206-9134 (C)  540-985-8021 (F)